follow us on twitter, facebook, pinterest, youtube and foursquare

 “a consumer reports for the cheap” — the new york times

Home » Computers & Internet » Digital Photo Printing » Digital Photo Printing Reviews

Digital Photo Printing Reviews

Related Guides: Camcorders, DSLRs, Digital Cameras, Digital Photo Frames and Webcams

Whether amateur or professional, every image is unique and should be treated as such during the printing process. According to digital photo printing services reviews, this performance attribute helps distinguish one online provider from another.

That said, such comparisons are often hard to make because individual perception and personal preference influence what you think about the quality of a print. But a washed-out photo or poorly printed image is a bit more obvious and may be indicative of a site's inconsistencies. As we read through digital photo printing services reviews, we took these factors into account in reaching our conclusions. Another performance-related issue that shows up in digital photo printing services reviews concerns technical support; we found only scattered comments about shipping, thus not enough to draw any conclusions.

Photo Print Quality.

There are several things to note when judging the quality of digital prints. Of course, snapping a quality photo at the get-go helps a lot, but when looking at the final prints check for color saturation, proper contrast, and sharpness. Make sure that one color or another isn't washed out or faded; all the colors should be accurate replicas of the digital image. Essentially, you want the print to mirror the original image, although you may have to modify the size of the print slightly to avoid over-cropping.

Digital photo printing reviews indicate that the prints prepared by Snapfish.com please amateurs and experts alike. Digital Photo Printing Review sent the same test photos to 16 online digital printing services and concludes in a digital photo printing review that the Snapfish.com prints outshine the rest even though quality varied slightly depending on the image, as was the case with all the services these experts reviewed. For example, some aspects of the color pictures were a bit dark, the digital photo printing services review notes, but an aerial shot of a cloudy London skyline was nicely cleaned up from the original. Although several consumers gripe about colors that are dull or off, other consumers posting digital photo printing services reviews of Snapfish.com on Printrates.com say colors are sharp, with good contrast and detail. A user commenting in a digital photo printing service review on CNET says that after three years of ordering prints from Snapfish.com, he has yet to see a poor finish or defect.

Shutterfly prints also garner commendations in digital photo printing reviews. Users posting digital photo printing reviews at Viewpoints talk up the print quality, which several say is worth prices that are slightly higher than the competition; one consumer states that Shutterfly quality bests that of Snapfish.com. Prints from a wedding shoot were of such high quality, writes an amateur photographer in a digital photo printing review on PrintRates.com, that most viewers were convinced they were the work of a professional.

Many users likewise find reason to smile with SmugMug prints. Experts at Digital Photo Printing Review are impressed with the color, contrast, and tone of the test photos. A user posting a digital photo printing services review on the DGrin.com forum likes both the matte and glossy finishes and raves about the vibrant colors. High quality work also makes the site a useful vehicle for selling photos, notes a professional photographer in a digital photo printing services review on PhotographyReview.com.

By comparison, two of the cheap digital photo printing services we researched had problems with consistency. Of 50 prints ordered from Walmart Photo Shop, notes a digital photo printing services review on PhotographyReview.com, about half looked professionally-done and the others looked as though they were printed on a low-cost home printer. Comparative testing by Digital Photo Printing Review also leaves Walmart Photo Shop's finished product in the shadows; the expert review notes the color sunset photo was far darker than the same photo printed by other services although the black and white photo was "truer" than the others even with its "noisy" luster finish.

RitzPix.com suffers from overall quality problems, according to Digital Photo Printing Review. The experts conclude that the sunlight print was too dark and the colors didn't pop to the degree they should have, while the black and white print was yellow and the aerial shot too blurred and soft.

Customer Support.

All kinds of issues arise when trying to get your digital photos printed, be it removing red eye to uploading the images to checking on the status of your order or figuring out how to lay out images for a gift item. Some cheap digital photo printing services win praise for customer-friendly and timely support and others earn loud boos from users who complain about overseas call centers whose staff can only read from scripted answers.

SmugMug is a favorite with users for its personal, accessible, and helpful technical and customer support, according to digital photo printing services reviews on PhotographyReview.com and Amazon. Ditto for Shutterfly, which users posting reviews on Printrates.com say is responsive to questions; only a couple of digital photo printing reviews on Viewpoints contain any negative comments about customer service. Although RitzPix.com's live chat is reserved for technical issues, wait time on the phone line is relatively short and emails are answered within a day. Users can also call a local photo-finishing store connected with RitzPix.com for other support queries. An expert digital photo printing services review on Star Reviews notes that customer service is one of RitzPix.com's strong points, a sentiment echoed by a customer at SelfHelpConsumer.com.

Snapfish.com scores well with a few users for customer service, but others posting digital photo printing services reviews on Viewpoints and CNET blast the site for botched shipping, difficulty correcting or changing orders, an inability to help troubleshoot technical problems, and the like. Walmart Photo Shop also gets panned for its technical support, in part because there's no phone line to call. Although there is an email address for queries, at least one user waited days for a response before giving up and going to the store to find an answer, notes a digital photo printing review on Astahost.com.

Back to top »

 

 

 

Walmart Photo Center
Ritzpix
SmugMug
Shutterfly
Snapfish

 

Computers & Internet Laptop Bags Parental Control Software VOIP Antivirus Software Cheap Laptops Cheap Tablets College Textbooks Desktops

Digital Photo Printing External Hard Drives Inkjet Printers Monitors Multifunction Printers Netbooks Online Dating

Scanners Smartphones Tax Preparation Software USB Flash Drives Webcams Wireless Routers Laser Printers

blog  about us  contact us  sitemap  in the news  privacy  terms of service  jobs

Follow us on Facebook Twitter Sign up for our Free Newsletter